Global round-up: Four Sun reporters acquitted

Four reporters from The Sun in the UK have been acquitted in a trial over payment of public officials for information.

Executive editor Fergus Shanahan, veteran chief reporter John Kay, 71, Royal editor Duncan Larcombe, 39, and deputy editor Geoff Webster, 55, were cleared of allegations they arranged to pay various government and Royal sources for confidential information.

The allegations dated from between 2004 and 2012.

The three-year case ended in 10 days of jury deliberations before the verdict was announced on Friday.

The men said outside court that they were grateful the jury had taken so long to consider the facts, and that they believed all their reporting to be in the public interest.

They were originally charged as part of the Operation Elveden police investigation into newspapers paying for stories. There have been 24 journalists brought to trial, but only two convictions so far.

Katharine Viner appointed Guardian editor-in-chief

Former Guardian Australia editor Katharine Viner has been formerly appointed the next editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media, replacing Alan Rusbridger.

Ms Viner is an 18-year veteran of Guardian publications, joining the organisation to become a magazine and features editor before heading up the group’s Australian and American operations.

There were 26 applications to the newspaper’s parent organisation The Scott Trust for the position. As part of the process, Guardian staff voted in a union-organised ballot, which Ms Viner won.

“Being editor-in-chief of the Guardian and Observer is an enormous privilege,” Ms Viner said in a statement.

“I intend to lead a media organisation that is bold, challenging, open and engaging. It will be a home for the most ambitious journalism … setting the agenda,” she said.

Ms Viner will be the first female editor-in-chief, and only the 12th editor overall in the 194-year history of the newspaper.

Al Jazeera staffers on trial again

The two remaining Al Jazeera staff members left in Egypt following the deportation of Australian reporter Peter Greste have again fronted court.

The retrial of Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed began on Wednesday after being delayed so the court could hear from expert witnesses and review the videos used by the prosecution as evidence.

The journalists were arrested in 2013.

The Washington Post to launch on Flipboard app

The Washington Post has begun creating content exclusively for Flipboard, an app which draws together a user’s social feeds and favourite news outlets, and presents it as an interactive magazine.

The newspaper is also creating special packages exclusively for Flipboard focusing on the 2016 presidential campaign, with the first made available on Wednesday this week.

“By partnering with The Washington Post, our readers can connect with their award-winning coverage, but also get richer perspectives on each candidate,” Flipboard CEO Mike McCue said.

Last year, the Post launched a new app for the Kindle Fire tablet which redesigned the news-reading experience with a new interface, high-resolution photos and rich graphics, aimed at a national audience.

That style of content will be made available through the paper’s Flipboard posts from May this year.

“Political news is important to our growing national audience, so we’re pleased to make the Post’s coverage available on Flipboard,” the newspaper’s general manager Steve Hills said.

Facebook eyes publishers’ content

Facebook is looking to host news content within its site, instead of hyperlinking users to the original source, The New York Times has reported.

The Times also reports sources within the newspaper saying it was one of a number of publishers working towards such an agreement with Facebook, which would remove at least one reason for users to navigate away from the social network.

Facebook has been discussing advertising strategies with publishers too, in an effort to solicit further co-operation. The company has said its primary motivation behind hosting others’ content internally is to cut down on load times.

It is unclear how such a move by the Times would play in with its digital paywall, which is built around content hosted by the newspaper itself.